By Donald L. Shell
Communications of the ACM,
November 1971,
Vol. 14 No. 11, Pages 713-719
10.1145/362854.362881
Comments
Various dispersion algorithms for the polyphase sorting procedure are examined. The optimum algorithm based on minimizing the total number of unit strings read is displayed. The logic of this algorithm is rather complicated; hence, several other new dispersion algorithms with more straightforward logic are presented. Of the simple dispersion algorithms discussed, the Horizontal is best. It does approximately one-fourth to one and one-half percent less reading and writing than most algorithms in use today. An additional two and one-fourth to three percent improvement can be achieved by utilizing the Modified Optimum Algorithm. This algorithm is relatively straightforward, but it requires a fairly close estimate of the total number of unit strings before the dispersion begins.
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